Watt-level efficient 2.3 µm thulium fluoride fiber laser

Aleksey Tyazhev (1) , Florent Starecki (1) , Solenn Cozic (2) , Pavel Loiko (1) , Lauren Guillemot (1) , Alain Braud (1) , Franck Joulain (2) , Mincheng Tang (3) , Thomas Godin (3) , Ammar Hideur (3) , Patrice Camy (1)

1 CIMAP - UMR 6252 - Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique
2 Le Verre Fluoré
3 CORIA - Complexe de recherche interprofessionnel en aérothermochimie

We report on an efficient mid-infrared thulium (Tm) fiber laser operating on the 3H4→3H5 transition and featuring an upconversion pumping scheme. This laser comprises a heavily Tm3+-doped (2.50 mol. %) zirconium fluoride glass fiber pumped by a tunable Yb fiber laser around 1.05 µm corresponding to the 3F4→3F2,3 excited-state absorption transition. The laser generates 1.24 W at 2269–2282 nm with a slope efficiency of 37% in the quasi-continuous-wave regime. The Tm-glass fiber exhibits a broadband 3H4→3H5 emission with a bandwidth of 173 nm, making it very promising for femtosecond fiber oscillators at ∼2.3µm.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Aleksey Tyazhev, Florent Starecki, Solenn Cozic, Pavel Loiko, Lauren Guillemot, et al.. Watt-level efficient 2.3 µm thulium fluoride fiber laser. Optics Letters, 2020, 45 (20), pp.5788. ⟨10.1364/OL.403450⟩. ⟨hal-02966681⟩